Underworld

Chapter 8- Third Trial

By BelletigerBT

XXX

The group had been walking for two days in the Asphodel Fields. They were lucky that Juno was guiding them to reach the Gates of Elysian or else they would've gotten themselves lost because of the dense mist.

Since she wasn't dangerous, Gokudera was asking questions about the mythical creatures and how come no one could see them in the Living World. Needless to say, the Storm Guardian was informed that some mythical creatures were living in the Living World under a type of disguise, but very few people could see past their disguise. To his surprise, she mentioned Tsuna was one of those rare ones.

"Jyuudaime could see your true self before?" Gokudera asked, amazed.

"Yeah, but not anymore," she said, very sad. "Because of an incident, Tsuna-kun lost his spiritual sight."

"He lost it?" Yamamoto asked in wonder. "How?"

"Juno does not know," she admitted. "Juno's mother told me that Tsuna-kun suffered some kind of trauma a little after we left and his spiritual sight was gone. That happened 10 years ago."

Reborn was quiet, but he figured out what Juno was talking about. After all, he was there 10 years ago when that man drove himself insane and kidnapped Tsuna, almost killing him along with himself. But the trauma was so great that it made Tsuna awaken his Sky flames for the first time, going out of control.

It took Iemitsu and the Ninth boss in Hyper Dying Will Mode to control Tsuna's flames and seal them away; the flames would only be active outside with help, like the Dying Will Bullets and the pills.

"We're here!" Juno shouted happily.

The group stared with blank looks when they saw there was nothing in front of them. Actually, it was a field full of rocks.

"Er… Juno-chan. Are you sure it's here?" Chrome asked from the back of Pegasus. Pegasus decided to go with them since he had taken a liking to Chrome.

"Of course it is!" Juno cried out, indignant, "This harpy knows Asphodel Fields like the palm of her talon!"

But they still couldn't see anything but rocks and mist.

"Oh yeah. Juno forgot…"

Juno took a golden key from her little bag and she raised it up. Suddenly, the key started to glow a light color.

"Gates of Elysian, come forth!"

Out of nowhere, giant doors appeared before them. With the key glowing even more, the key floated to the keyhole.

CLICK

The doors have opened and the group gasped in surprise when they saw blue skies and green fields through the portal. Before their eyes, they are seeing the legendary paradise:

"The Elysian Fields…" Yamamoto whispered, still in awe.

"It's beautiful…" Chrome whispered, the image of Elysian Fields reminding her of Mukuro's dream world, when they first met.

Then, Juno smirked.

"Tsuna-kun! Your bride is coming for you!" She sing-songed as she quickly flew off to Elysian Fields, while Gokudera's eyes widened in astonishment.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU STUPID HARPY? I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO TOUCH JYUUDAIME!" Gokudera shouted as he ran after the crazy harpy.

Chrome looked at Pegasus with determination in her face.

"Let's go, Pegasus. We need to reach Boss first before they do."

Pegasus nodded as he opened his wings and flew off after Juno and Gokudera. Yamamoto laughed.

"Hahaha, so everyone is racing for Tsuna? I'm in!" Yamamoto said, laughing and running after his friends.

Enma and Reborn only had blank looks on their faces. They were the only ones left behind.

"*sigh* It's better we go after them before they blow Elysian Fields up and we have to deal with Hades," Enma muttered as Reborn agreed with him.

Enma crossed the gate and walked off. But when it was Reborn's turn, he hit some type of invisible wall. Enma didn't notice that Reborn could not cross and he moved to where his friends were, leaving Reborn behind.

The hitman gritted his teeth and he started to beat the wall. Why? He's so close to Tsuna, and yet he couldn't go through the gate.

"Why? WHY?" Reborn questioned angrily as he was continued beating the invisible wall. "Why can't I cross?"

That's when he heard a cold and hateful voice behind him.

"That's because Elysian Fields is the world of peace and pure-hearted souls. A soul so full of sins and no peace in a heart like yours could never cross the gate."

Reborn's eyes widened in astonishment before he turned around and glared at the owner of that cold voice. He wished he would never see that face again.

"I never thought I would see you again, Ezio," Reborn said darkly. "But after seeing Chrome using your technique and feeling your killing intent, I knew I would meet you sooner or later."

Ezio only glared at Reborn with hate in his eyes. Images of the past ran through his mind: a girl with a bullet hole in her head, a small child he tried to kill, and Reborn being the last person he saw before he died.

"As much I would love to have a chat with you, Ezio, I am quite busy right now," Reborn growled as Leon became a revolver and was aimed at Ezio. "I have someone who's waiting for all of us at Elysian Fields."

"Who would wait for a heartless bastard like you in Elysian, Reborn?" Ezio asked as he slowly drew out his sword. "As far as I can see, you're only here to get your precious chicken of the golden eggs back."

That made Reborn furious. He was called many things by people who didn't like him, but he could not stand it when people called him greedy.

"You know nothing about me, Ezio."

"Oh yeah, I do." Ezio smirked evilly. "I could see every move you made in the Living World, thanks to a special spring here in Asphodel Fields. I saw you tutoring the stupid Cavallone kid, all the women whose hearts you broke, making people entertainment for you in your sick way, and most importantly, your expression of failure when you hugged that kid's head after that Daemon Spade had decapitated him. That was my favorite scene of you; you looked so pathetic. The greatest hitman, Reborn, has just failed in something." He chuckled darkly at him.

BANG BANG BANG BANG

Reborn fired at Ezio four times, but all the bullets were cut in half and fell to the ground. Ezio only glared at him with cold eyes.

"And I see you have forgotten that my Phantom Blade technique is faster than any bullet you fire," Ezio remarked as he removed his cape and threw it into the wind. "If you want to see that kid, you have to fight with me first since you're the only one left."

That's when Reborn understood everything.

"So, that means you're…"

Suddenly, Ezio went into a Hyper Dying Will Mode, just like Tsuna and Enma, but his flames were purple which indicated he was a Cloud flame user.

"That's right, Reborn," Ezio said, glaring at the hitman. "I am the third trial, and you…" Then, all his flames started to ignite along Ezio's right arm. "You will be a dead man."

XXX

In the Elysian Fields, Tsuna was walking towards the Sakura fields, with the small hell hound puppy accompanying him. In there, he could find Giotto staring at the blooming sakura flowers.

"They are beautiful, aren't they, Decimo?" Giotto asked, without turning around.

Tsuna knew Giotto didn't need to turn around to know he was there because of his hyper intuition.

"Yeah, they are," Tsuna admitted softly as he saw Giotto turning around to stare at him. "Primo, I want to apologize for being so cold to you for the past few days."

"No need to apologize, Decimo," Giotto assured, smiling softly at him. "You had every right to be angry with me for putting your friends in danger. I saw what happened to your Storm Guardian and Rain Guardian in the first trial."

Tsuna was quiet when Giotto mentioned Gokudera and Yamamoto. He was in such a panic when he saw Gokudera had lost his left arm while Yamamoto lost his right eye. But after he talked with Alaude and Cozart he realized something important; if one of his Guardians had died and if he was the one to save them, he would risk his life for them, just like what they were doing now.

"And also, without these trials, I would have never realized how much they care about me," Tsuna said as he picked the hell hound puppy up into his arms and petted it. "Especially Reborn."

"Your tutor?"

"Yeah," Tsuna said, smiling. "You know, at the beginning, I thought Reborn was a selfish bastard and little devil from hell in the form of a baby who always wanted to do things his own way, but…"

Tsuna was interrupted when he felt someone hugging him from behind, almost making him drop the puppy.

"TSUNA-KUN!"

Tsuna's eyes widened in surprise when he saw it was Juno. He would admit before the second trial had started that he'd had a dream where he was playing with a girl with dark hair and green eyes. He never imagined that girl from his childhood was a harpy.

"You're Juno?"

That made Juno's smile get bigger.

"This harpy is so happy that Tsuna remembered her!"

Giotto's eyes widened in shock when he saw the harpy kissing his descendent. Tsuna could only look very red in embarrassment while his first kiss was being stolen by a harpy.

That's how Gokudera, Yamamoto, Chrome, and Enma found Tsuna in the Elysian Fields.

"Oi! You stupid harpy! How dare you kiss Jyuudaime!" Gokudera yelled, kicking in her direction while Yamamoto held him back.

"Maa maa, calm down, Gokudera…"

"Boss!" Chrome cried out as she got off of Pegasus and ran to Tsuna, hugging him while sobbing. "I am so sorry, Boss. If I was stronger, Daemon Spade would never… he would never..."

Between the sobs, Tsuna only smiled as he hugged her back, trying to comfort his Mist Guardian. Enma placed his hand on Tsuna's shoulder and looked at him with soft eyes.

"I also want to apologize, Tsuna. For everything we caused you."

"Everyone…" Tsuna had tears in his eyes. In spite of the wounds they got from their trials, he was happy to see they were alright.

Yamamoto noticed the hell hound puppy in Tsuna's arm. It was the same one who helped them with Cerberus.

Tsuna, at first, was surprised that the puppy in a way saved his Guardians. But now, he's thankful that the small hell hound puppy had helped them in their first trial.

Giotto could not help, but smile at the scene. That's how the things should be. Gokudera and the others noticed that Giotto was there and they all bowed to him respectfully.

Then, Hades showed up.

"Hades-sama," Giotto and Juno bowed to the god of death.

Gokudera and Yamamoto noticed Hades had unique silver eyes and remembered on Cerberus's memories that little Tsuna had mentioned "Silver Eyes-san." Could it be Hades himself?

Chrome could not have imagined that Hades would be so beautiful. Enma kinda felt intimidated by Hades' powerful presence.

"I congratulate you for arriving in Elysian Fields a day early, mortals," Hades said to them. "From what I could see during the trials, you truly care about Sawada Tsunayoshi. Which allowed you to see the feelings of his past friends…" an image of Cerberus came to them. "And forget about your differences to rescue your partners," the image of Chrome, Enma and Juno working together was shown.

"So…" started Gokudera. "Can we take Jyuudaime home now?" he asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Hades answered, which made everyone gasp in astonishment. "You did two trials, and there's still one left. Besides, there's a member missing from your group."

That's when Tsuna and the others finally noticed that Reborn was not with them.

"Hey, where's Reborn? I thought he was right after me." Enma was confused. Reborn was right behind him when he crossed the gate.

For some reason, Tsuna had a bad feeling that Reborn was in trouble.

XXX

Reborn jumped to avoid being hit by the air slash caused by Ezio's Phantom Blade technique. He hated to admit it, but Ezio was much faster and stronger than the last time he saw him alive.

Tsuna and the others arrived at the scene, from the other side of the gate.

"Reborn!" Tsuna shouted, but he was hit by an invisible wall; the same one which didn't allow Reborn to cross through.

"Tsuna, are you ok?" Yamamoto asked as he helped Tsuna to his feet.

"Ezio-sensei!" Chrome cried out. Like Tsuna, she could not across the gate. "Why are you attacking Reborn-san?"

Ezio stared at Chrome with cold eyes, which sent chills down her spine. Those eyes were filled with hate and anger. Ezio stared at the group before he turned to Reborn.

"So, you haven't told them about me, have you, Reborn?" Ezio asked Reborn cooly. "I am not really surprised. After all, I am your dirty little secret. Of course, you don't want people knowing about my existence."

Tsuna was now confused. What was he talking about? For some reason, that guy looked very familiar to him.

"W-What is he talking about, Reborn?" Tsuna asked, bewildered.

But Reborn didn't answer him.

"If you will not tell him, then I will!" Ezio said, glaring at Reborn before he turned his glare to Tsuna. "I am Ezio Rivera, also known as the famous Fantasma Assasino in Italy, and I am Reborn's very first student!"

Tsuna and the others' eyes widened in shock and horror when Ezio said that.

"F-First student?" Tsuna whispered, stunned.

To be continued.

Yep, Ezio is Reborn's student before Dino and Tsuna's time. Why is Ezio so angry at Reborn? You gotta wait until the next update, which will tell Ezio's past with Reborn and why Tsuna feels he knows Ezio from somewhere.

I wanna thanks to Alternative Angel for editing this chapter. :)